Why Do We Get the Winter Blues? | Seasonal Affective Disorder

Humans may not hibernate, exactly, but that doesn't necessarily mean we're totally unaffected by the changing of seasons.

Hosted by: Brit Garner
----------
----------
Dooblydoo thanks go to the following Patreon supporters:
Kelly Landrum Jones, Sam Lutfi, Kevin Knupp, Nicholas Smith, Inerri, D.A. Noe, alexander wadsworth, سلطان الخليفي, Piya Shedden, KatieMarie Magnone, Scott Satovsky Jr, Bella Nash, Charles Southerland, Bader AlGhamdi, James Harshaw, Patrick Merrithew, Patrick D. Ashmore, Candy, Tim Curwick, charles george, Saul, Mark Terrio-Cameron, Viraansh Bhanushali, Kevin Bealer, Philippe von Bergen, Chris Peters, Justin Lentz
----------
Looking for SciShow elsewhere on the internet?
----------
Sources:
----------
Images:

[GuniMatthiasson]

In Iceland, this is such a common phenomenon in the winter that it is commonly called 'skammdegisþunglyndi', which directly translates to 'short-day depression', referring to the period around the winter solstice. Through December we get just over 4 hours of daylight on average per day. This means, for the average 9-5 worker, that it is still dark when they get to work and again when they leave.
A sunrise-/sunset simulator alarm clock and a standard dose of vitamin-D supplements has done wonders to offset this effect for me, but it is definitely a notable issue here.

[Master_Therion]

1:18 True, my therapist always tells me, "You have a bad Latitude."

[crazykaspmovies]

I want to buy the genius that came up with that abbreviation a drink

[michaeldaugustine]

There's a reason many cultures around the world have holidays that are basically a "festival of lights" near the winter solstice.

[erikholgersson]

"Hey, why is he so sad?"
"Oh he just has sad."
"What?"

[dominicsherwood]

My dog gets so sad when I put sweaters on him that he won't move.

[joseg]

I fell a bit depressed most on winter time but summer gives me this happy feeling

[NewMessage]

* looks out at the 3 feet of snow I have to shovel to get my car out of the driveway and get to work this morning *

Yeah... I know why.

[SarahDarkhand]

I think I have some weird form of this bc I get real sad around Christmas time and I get increasingly sad until it peaks in late July and gets less severe until it plummets around thanksgiving

[lazyperfectionist]

"You might feel tired, or lazy, or put on a few pounds..."
...or feel compelled to dust off my saxophone...

[gideonjones]

Ok but what about those of us who hate winter so much that thinking about it in the summer makes me shiver? I'm not even kidding. I feel sad and almost depressed when thinking about winter, even though I'm not actually depressed. When the first sign of spring comes, like the earliest plants starting to grow, I almost jump for joy, even if I'm out in public. Seeing other things start to come to life just makes me happy, while watching everything wither and die and sleep in the fall and winter makes me sad.

[responseu]

Winter keeps you in the house more and that's bad enough for depression.

[Funtomever]

1:22 this is so trueeee…. So this year is the 3rd time I am experiencing depressive moods in October already. Last year I experienced sad around October too but around November I went to a vacation trip to Virgin Islands for around 3 weeks…Got to tell the tiny symptoms I had remained the same in Virgin Islands, but when I got back to Maryland in December my symptoms worsened just in 5 days…

[part-of-juffo-wup]

Even if this is old video, I have to point out, that USA is not a good place to study winter blues. Most of USA is quite south and day length changes there are relatively minor. Chicago is at about same latitude as Rome or Madrid, and if you go east from Miami, you end up in northern Sahara. When you compare a country like Denmark to USA, Denmark is a bit south of Anchorage and other Scandinavian countries are even more north. Even in southern Finland and Norway, day length at winter solstice is 5 hours and 40 minutes (which doesn't mean that you can see the sun) while in Chicago it's over 9 hours. That means couple of months of a year when you don't see any sun except in weekends, because sun rises after you go to work and it sets before the workday ends. Of course in the north you don't see the sun even in the weekends. That's what makes people SAD.

[koom]

I just dislike winter in general because the sun goes so quickly and it gets dark so early that it’s almost like what’s the point in getting up or out of bed. It’s harder to distinguish between days because the night never seems to end and even in the morning or when light is still out, the sky is bleak, so god damn bleak and grey. It makes everything seem so dull and lifeless, not to mention in the UK, it always rains. This past week, there’s been snow which made it a bit better, but rain and dark skies still return.

I don’t have SAD though, I just have a strong opinion about how bleak and empty winter makes everything feel. It’s like I’m trapped inside my own house and the world outside feels dead.

But I always have the internet to occupy me. So it’s not that bad.

[RamzaBeoulves]

"Turn that happy light on" had a Bob Ross feel to it and that made me smile.
I'll try to remember that, thank you!

[sapphirII]

I love that you talked about that! I've known since my teenage years I have a problem with that. However, in my case, it tends to be more of a fall blues, with my mood slightly improving at the start of winter. I have the hypothesis that for me there's a part of seeing the days growing shorter or longer.

[otterconnor]

Here in Arizona, we don't go outside unless we're going to die in the summer. That could be a thing

[GetPsyched]

Read a really interesting article on this recently, its something that is developing in public awareness. The concept really does need more research but thought you gave a great overview here. There are therapists I know that say that the winter is insanely busy for them, so this is something that really is growing!

[talsen]

I'm usually happier in the winter. I have severe allergies, so each summer I'm usually in a haze of feeling awful. In the winter, I get up earlier and exercise more. I usually feel happiest in the months where it is mostly consistently below freezing. I've considered moving up north to get more time of the year where I feel good.